Bruce Springsteen fans got more than they’d bargained for – in a good way! – last night when he was joined 23 songs in by Bono for an incendiary version of ‘Because The Night’. Following the set-piece singing of ‘Waitin’ On A Sunny Day’ with a tweenage fan, The Boss remarked, “Dublin’s got talent…” which was the cue for the U2 man to walk on from the wings. You could tell there was a lot of mutual love on stage as they traded verses on the Bruce song that was a massive 1978 hit for their mutual pal Patti Smith.
We're eternally grateful to Dave Corway for supplying the fan footage of what was a truly historic rock 'n' roll moment.
The gig itself was another three-and-a-quarter hour stunner with none of the sound problems that were reported in various parts of the stadium on Friday.
It’s fair to say that the first half of the set was more for Springsteen diehards than the casual fan with lots of older songs like the opening ‘Incident On 57th Street’ which goes all the way back to 1973’s The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle. Performed solo by Bruce on the piano, it’s one of the great redemption songs.
Other lesser spotted Springsteen tunes included Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.’s ‘Growin’ Up’, Born In The USA’s No Surrender and the sign request ‘Youngstown’ from The Ghost Of Tom Joad.
Once he hit ‘Darlington County’ though, it was crowd-pleasers all the way to the finish with an encore comprising of ‘Born In The U.S.A’, ‘Born To Run’, ‘Dancing In The Dark’, ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’, ‘Shout’ and despite having literally sung himself hoarse by then, a solo ‘Thunder Road’ that put goosepimples on our goose pimples.
The 'Superman Wears Springsteen Pyjamas' sign being waved around in the pit said it all!